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Thursday, 27 April 2017

Jodi Hicks, Assistant Director of Overseas Programs from Chapman University in California, visited IXO on March 15. She met with Administrative Assistant Lillie de Guzman and the IXO team during her visit. Chapman University is also a listed ISEP Exchange Partner university.

Three students from the AUS Department of International Studies won the first annual GCC Jessup Friendly Moot Court Competition hosted by Kuwait International Law School in March. The team will represent the UAE in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in the US, where they will be the highest ranked GCC participant. We extend our congratulations to them on their achievements! Find the news article at https://www.sharjah24.ae/en/studiesand-research/universities/205491austeam-wins-first-annual-gcc-jessupfriendly-moot-court-competition

Tanya Kramer, Assistant Director of Study Abroad/International Student and Study Abroad Services, along with her colleague Matthew Dunham, brought 11 students from North Dakota State University (NDSU), USA, for a Friday visit to AUS last month. They were given a campus tour and engaged in conversation with our peer advisors at the IXO lounge.We thank those in IXO who facilitated the tour and discussions, especially given that this visit took place during the weekend.

Just before Spring Break, IXO and the Academic Support Center (ASC) jointly hosted a Pizza and Conversation night for current exchange students to have a relaxed discussion on cultural issues related to AUS, Sharjah, the UAE and the Arab/Islamic world. Topics included views on Emirati hospitality, relationships, modest dressing, study abroad experiences so far, and other cultural differences. This event created a positive space, halfway through the semester, for the students to further understand the Arab culture and get a new perspective into their experience of the UAE.

Exchange students, along with the IXO team, ventured to the corniche in Fujairah to witness traditional Emirati bullfighting. On the way over, students also made a stop over at the Mleiha Archaeological Center. At the center, students learned about the UAE’s historical Bedouin culture and saw artifacts from the historical village of Mleiha.

IXO will be handing out world patches to all graduating students who have studied abroad via IXO to honor their achievements and congratulate them on completing their higher education.We encourage students who are graduating in Spring 2017 to stop by and collect these badges from our office in the main building (MG 43).

According to a survey completed by 8,000 Millennials, UAE was ranked the best country to study abroad (followed by Singapore and India) as reported by the US News. The attributes assessed during the survey included cultural accessibility, enjoyment and cultural attractions. Please find the complete article at https://tinyurl.com/n75ncsd

A couple of our exchange students participated in cultural club performances at the AUS 2017 Global Day. Jade Williams from Howard University participated in the Nigerian Cultural Club performance and Rainie Grant from Butler University participated in the Palestinian Cultural Club performance.

Mohammed Abdelsalam joins the IXO Team as a new Peer Advisor. Mohammed studied abroad at Virginia Tech, USA, in Spring 2016 through ISEP Exchange and has been an active member in all IXO events. We are pleased to have him join our team!

IXO enjoyed a surprise visit from Zachary Londo in March during his spring break in the UAE. Zachary is an aerospace engineering student at the University of Alabama and had studied abroad at AUS in Spring 2016 via API. We hope Zachary enjoyed his spring break here in the UAE!

Former IXO Peer Advisor and international relations major Anusha Grewal is currently studying abroad with a scholarship at Cyprus International University as a visiting student. She had previously been abroad in Spring 2016 as a part of the Semester at Sea program. Anusha found schools outside of the US and UK that provide scholarships for international students. She advised that students consider going abroad as a visiting student, as these programs can sometimes be very affordable.

Are you studying abroad this summer? Please remember that all outbound summer study abroad applications are processed directly through the Office of the Registrar (MG10B). IXO does not collect applications for outbound summer study abroad.Students can download the Summer Study Abroad Course Approval Form here: https://www.aus.edu/downloads/file/1442/permission_to_take_summer_courses_outside_aus.

Applications are now open for AUS students who want to study abroad in Spring 2018, or for the full calendar year of 2018. The deadline to apply is May 6, 2017.Visit IXO (MG43) to talk to a Peer Advisor about your many options. To apply, or for more information, visit www.aus.edu/ixo or contact us at ixo@aus.edu.

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Every semester, IXO plans a dhow cruise out of Dibba in the
Musandam Peninsula for that semester’s cohort of study abroad students.

For our Spring 2017 trip, we planned an early departure from
campus, with 32 of us leaving at 6:30 am from the Library Roundabout. We
arrived at the Omani border by 9 am, and sailed right through immigration
without any problems. We parked our bus in the sandy parking lot just next to
the marina and climbed on-board our dhow.

The weather that day was perfect, and we had a fabulous day
enjoying the views, swimming in the sparkling emerald waters in several coves,
snorkeling, exploring the little beach villages, falling off the banana boats,
visiting the natural limestone caves, having our lunch, jumping off the boat,
reel fishing, and catching a barracuda.

By the time we pulled back into the harbor at 6:30 pm, as the
sun was setting and the fish market onshore was bustling, we were all tired and
sunburnt and happy – looking forward to a nap during the ride back to campus.
We jumped into the bus and set off. As we were departing the parking lot, we
found the way was blocked by a variety of boat trailers that had parked haphazardly
around the entry points. The bus driver saw an incline just ahead that looked
like it led to a more spacious area, so off we went. We got about 50 meters
before the wheels started spinning, and the bus became mired in sand.

The guys all piled off, and soon were busy working to put stones
and wood under the tires, to provide some traction. After a couple of attempts
to drive away, the women also clambered down to lighten the load a bit and
hopefully, to help free up the bus.

Over the next two hours, we all watched in fascination as a
parade of progressively larger vehicles and bigger crowds stopped by to try
their luck at freeing up the bus. First,
a very nice Omani gentleman in a Land Rover with a winch parked nearby, and
after a lot of fuss and confusion around the front of the bus trying to figure
out the best place to attach the winch, the Land Rover gave it a try. The attempt drained its battery without any
sign that the bus was budging, and the Land Rover had to be jump-started.

Next, another Omani gentleman in a pickup truck stopped and offered to get the bus unstuck for a
mere 1,000 AED.He had a ‘special
system’, he told us, that was guaranteed to get the bus out.We talked him down to 500 AED, and told him
the money was his if he could get us out of there!He tried, no luck.So that was Plan B.

Meanwhile, the crowd was growing thicker – it appeared that we
were to be the Friday night entertainment for this small Omani village. Probably, there were 200 people all milling
about, in a rather carnival atmosphere! Someone must have called Civil Defense,
because they showed up around then, along with some guys in hard hats. There
was a lot of conferencing going on. Every effort to move the bus also involved
a group of 20-30 people at the back (or sometimes the front), pushing with all
their might – it really was a Herculean effort for all involved!

Eventually, a large flat-bed truck pulled up, the kind you see
towing broken-down dump trucks, etc. The flat-bed was hydraulically lowered
down to form a kind of platform, and a larger winch was attached. After a lot
of hubbub, another attempt was made until the chain snapped with a loud
cracking sound. Still the bus made no sign of moving. The large flat-bed truck
pulled away.

A few moments later, shouting could be heard all around us as a
backhoe-type of heavy earth moving vehicle came up to lend a hand. We all
thought that this must be the moment we were waiting for, and we were filled
with hope and good cheer! The backhoe tried pulling from the front of the bus,
and then went around to the back – it tried rocking the bus back and forth –
but really that bus was simply not going anywhere. That was becoming abundantly
clear.

Meanwhile, we had been standing on this beach, with no facilities
of any kind nearby, for approximately 2 hours, and we were all beginning to
feel the need for some personal comforts. The situation was looking
progressively more hopeless, and the bus was now displaying cracked windows and
peeling paint from all the pushing and shoving.

Increasingly desperate phone calls to the bus company, and the
Transportation people at AUS, were being made while these attempts were going
on. It transpired that the bus company was unable to send another (replacement)
bus to pick us all up in Oman, as that meant a driver with a visa to enter
Oman, and that required a day or two to organize. So, after two hours stranded, the decision
was made to walk the two kilometers to the UAE border, where a bus could
actually be sent to rescue us.

We started walking, and we must have been a real sight, the 32
of us all strewn out and straggling along the road to the border. Some of our
amazing Peer Advisors began flagging down cars and asking if they could assist
by shuttling us in groups of 2-3 to the border. The driver of one of the cars
we stopped said he had a bus, and went off to get it – a few moments later he
pulled up with a bus that was miraculously big enough to fit all of us. Once to
the border, we walked across, and over to a pleasant beach park just inside the
UAE border – a place where we could sit and rest and where we had facilities
and restaurants nearby. There were several families out and enjoying the park,
with camp fires, etc., and truly the situation could have been far worse. The
moon was beautiful and the stars were out, and we had a football in our midst.

We waited there for 2 hours while a bus was dispatched
from AUS to come and get us. The bus arrived around 10:30 pm, and we all
clambered exhaustively (but happily) on board. We got back to the AUS Campus
around 12:55 am, literally 5 minutes before the curfew! Success, in the face of
adversity! And another great story to tell our friends and colleagues.